“As ye wish, Father,” she said with a respectful nod of her head.
As she picked up her skirts to start across the cloister, she heard him address the abbot.
“Where is that Rivenloch man?”
“At Dunlop, Father.”
Carenza slowed her step.
“Dunlop?How long has he been there?”
She peered over her shoulder.
The prior joined the abbot and arched a judgmental brow.“Several days, Father.”
“Twodays,” corrected the abbot.
“So has he decided against…” Doubt dripped from Father James’s voice.“Taking his vows?”
The abbot stumbled a bit and replied, “Er…nay.He…still means to join the order.”
“Then why is he at Dunlop?”
“There was an accident, Father,” Carenza told him.“Sir Hew was badly burned.”
The father scowled.He obviously thought women should be seen and not heard.Perhaps not even seen.
The abbot added, “It happened at Dunlop.The physician thought it best not to move him.”
“So he intends to return?”
“N—” she began.
“Aye,” the abbot interjected.“Aye, he should be well in…a day or two?”
The abbot was looking at her for confirmation.Confirmation she didn’t want to give.She didn’t want Hew to return to the monastery.She wanted him to stay at Dunlop.With her.
But she didn’t want to endanger him or his mission.So she nodded.
“I would speak with him upon his return,” the Father said to the abbot.“I find it curious that a border clan warrior would wish to join a holy order in the Highlands.”
“So I’ve said many times,” the prior smugly snipped.
To the prior’s disappointment, Father James ignored him.Instead, he turned to Carenza.“You’ll tell Sir Hew I look forward to his return to Kildunan.”
Carenza didn’t particular like being ordered about by a priest.But she bowed her head.Now was not the time to ruffle feathers.This time, however, she skipped the smile.Father James clearly disliked her.Maybe he disliked all women.That was probably useful in his profession.But it rendered her best weapon—her charm—worthless.
Hew spent most of the afternoon pacing back and forth along the wall walk.He told himself it would help him recover from two days wasted in an opium stupor.After all, he was used to a daily diet of combat and lovemaking, neither of which he’d enjoyed for weeks.If he could neither wield his axe or ease his lust, he could at least ensure his legs didn’t stiffen with disuse.
But that didn’t explain why he kept eyeing the castle road every time a new traveler surfaced from the woods.
Carenza had been gone for hours.Soon it would grow dark.
Had there been trouble at the monastery?Had she raised any suspicions with her questioning?Had she uncovered the accomplice and unwittingly put a target on her back?
Bloody hell.He should never have let her go.
At the time, it had made sense.She’d convinced him it was perfectly safe.Reasonable.The best option.But perhaps it had only seemed so because he was basking in the afterglow of her caresses.Sometimes it seemed to Hew that when his blood rushed to his loins, it vacated his brain.
